Getting Ready

Things are picking up around here with the back to school scene. We had the Open House on Tuesday night and all went well. I let myself be suckered into doing two volunteer PTO events already and school hasn't even started! (It's easy when one of your closest friends is hyper-involved and will be working right next to you...)

The boy's are bored stiff and now we're all excited for school to start - not just me anymore! Shannon is keeping track of the back-to-school countdown even better than I am at this point. In my boredom, I've been crazy enough to venture out to the grocery store with all three boys TWO times this week. If you know me, you know that I NEVER take even one child with me to the grocery store. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess. It's that lame around here.

Yesterday Corey's bus driver called to inform me that I'll get an extra fifteen minutes of sleep each day, as he had to completely readjust his drop-off route to accommodate all 40 kindergartners that will be riding his bus. I quickly processed this information and blurted out, "You are screwed!" (I know this driver fairly well, and I just couldn't stop myself!) He went from 18 kids last year to 40 this year. Kindergartners. Tired after 4 hours of school, hungry for their lunches, and reluctant to sit up in their seats and speak quietly. Ugg.

Well, off to type up a list of Corey's behaviors that his new teacher will have to struggle with this year. Corey has always done well in small classrooms with understanding teachers, and now he's at a new school where nobody understands his quirks. (Like a music teacher knowing that you can't play a CD at an audible volume or Corey will cover his ears and whine...) I'm supposed to have a teacher-liaison for this but I have yet to hear from him/her. It should be interesting...

My trip to the Scrapbook convention went really well, and to top it off, I came home early - and with money left over! I got a great calendar kit which will look much better than the one I made for this year. I've been working on it ever since I made it home from my trip.

The boys are just so bored and frustrated with each other that if school doesn't start soon, there will be bloodshed, I am certain. This morning I'm dragging them up to their school so I can get some PTO work done. They will get to run all over the playground while I work, so hopefully they will get used to the idea of being in the general vicinity of the school? We also find out their class assignments in the morning, so that will be a little exciting.

Today Ken was just sitting around and accomplishing nothing (as usual,) and I brought my displeasure with this situation to his attention. In other words, I started nagging. I asked him if he thought there was something else he could do in a day aside from going to work, playing computer games or napping. His response? "There's nothing else to do."

Uh-huh. Right. I started running down a never-ending list of thing that I'd been asking him to do all summer. "Clean the garage, organize the garage, patch the cracks in the garage, fix my printer, run stuff down into storage, install the outlet I've been needing...." He just looked at me for a minute and goes, "Okay."

Next thing I know, Ken's vacuuming the living room and then getting out the carpet scrubber! (Not exactly my priority, but I'll take what I can get...) The carpets look 100% better, and I'm a happy girl. Except for the fact that now, in comparison, my tiled kitchen floor looks really grubby and dirty, (chocolate cupcakes + watermelon + 3 little boys will do that to a floor.) Hmm... somebody's going to have to take care of that.

72

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Absent

Heading to St. Charles, IL for the next two days to test my willpower. I have about $4o to spend at a scrapbook convention with over 50 vendors. Wish me luck!

Crap, is that rain I'm seeing in Chicago on the map right there? ------------------------------- >>>>>

(And could the rain just hit Michigan so my grass doesn't brown any worse while I'm gone???)

9 Long Years

On August 21, 1999, Ken and I got married. Then we got really drunk. (Okay, not really drunk, but it sounded good.) June tried to adjust my train with a safety pin, poked her finger and bled on my wedding dress. My brother threw candy at Ken and I as we tried not to look like idiots on the dance floor. My in-laws seemed really uncomfortable. My parents threw an after-hours party in their hotel room, right next to our suite. Ken and I fell asleep before their party ended. Sound familiar? Anyone?

Wow, that didn't sound too good. I guess you had to be there, it really was a fun day. The blood was under the train, the candy was fairly soft, my in-laws survived, and my parents at least invited us to their party. Some great friends and family travelled quite a long ways to be there and everything went smoothly. Shannon surprised me by showing up all the way from Maryland after she'd told me she couldn't make it. Mom was my bridesmaid and Ken's Dad was his best man. Ken cried right before the wedding, and that was very sweet (or ominous, I'm not sure.)

Anyhow, it's now August 21, 2008, and that makes today our 9th Wedding Anniversary. (I know this because Ken reminded me.) I don't have one of those Hallmark books to tell me what type of gift you give on the 9th year, but I'm hoping it's steak. (That's what I'm getting my husband, two fat steaks for him to cook up for us on the grill. I'm truly a romantic.)

I'm also making the ultimate sacrifice for my darling husband: I'm going to head to Chicago for two days (with a girlfriend) and let Ken have some precious quality time with his three little boys. He gets three kids all to himself, an emptied wallet, and NO nagging. What more could a man want? I'm sure he'll love this gift, now... I wonder what he got for me?

A Day at the Lake

Yesterday Scott and Stacy invited us out to their cabin on Fair Lake, and the boys had a great time. They swam a lot, fished a bit, and simply wore themselves out (we had to wake Corey up this morning at 10:00!) Here's some pictures of the water play:

Shannon and Austin having a water battle.

Riley dug up the sand (found a leech!) and played with baby Aiden while Stacy looked on.

Corey was all over the place, practicing his kicking and bellyflopping off the dock.

We all took a ride around the lake in Scott's pontoon boat, cooked out on the grill, and shot water balloons off the dock (they didn't pop when they hit the water, even after being launched over 100 feet!) It was a great way to finish up the summer - our only real weekend left before school starts will be Labor Day weekend, and I'm sure Ken will have to work a few of those days.

Target Practice

Ken was up way too late last night and ended up falling asleep on the couch. This is very frustrating for the rest of us as Daddy takes up too much room, gets upset if the boys are too loud, and most importantly, gets too grumpy when you try to wake him up.

I tried to convince him to wake up verbally, enticing him with exciting things that we'd planned to do today, but Ken wasn't having it. The kids refuse to try to wake him up because past experience has shown that Daddy is just too mean when he's tired. So there we were, stuck with Daddy sleeping on our couch at 11:00 in the morning. What to do?

Loud enough for Daddy to hear, I instructed the boys to get the living room cleaned up. We had a multitude of miniature toys scattered about, from legos, to hotwheels, to pokemon cards. Pick it all up, they were told, then gently throw them at Daddy. The only rule was that they couldn't hit Daddy in the head, but any other body part was fair game.

Between the toys bouncing off his body, the hysterical laughing of the boys, and my encouraging instructions, ("See if you can get anything to stay on that big 'ol belly!") Daddy slowly came around. It seemed like we were about ready to get our day going. The boys finished picking up the living room, I cleaned up the kitchen, and Daddy ate a bowl of cereal. We were moving!

Uh-oh, what's that? The boys have dispersed, Mommy's messing around on-line, and Daddy... he's laying in the recliner, eyes heavy, and nearly unresponsive. Phase two is about to go down, this time I'm thinking pillows...

El Channel en Espanol

The kids were up a bit later than usual tonight, mainly because I just didn't feel like getting off my butt to put them to bed. Who knew that cartoons had such slim pickins' late at night, (even with Nick, Noggin, Boomerang, and every other cartoon channel that mid-level cable provides?) Corey had been scanning through the menu for a cartoon to no avail, when something finally caught his eye.

"Mom, what does that say?" he asked, pausing on a show with 'de' and 'toro' in the title. (As if I would know? My guess: something of the bull?) Obviously it was in Spanish, and we all know how much Corey loves that language. Soon we were all sitting in the living room watching that crazy adventurer guy, trapped in a freezing climate with wet clothes, explaining his survival methods. En Espanol, of course.

Do I need to remind anybody that not one person in this house speaks, much less understands Spanish? Corey was enthralled. "What's he doing? Why is he wet? Where are his clothes? What did he just say? Why... Why... Why..." Annoying. Really, everybody was complaining and begging for a channel change, but I was letting Corey go with it. Shortly, however, even I had had enough. "What is he saying Mom?" Corey yelled for the last time.

"Gee, Corey, I don't know what he's saying because I don't understand Spanish! Comprende?" Well, maybe I understand a little, no? Anyhow, at this point I finally just got off my butt and put the kids to bed. Buenos noches, boys...

Somebody Was Bored at the Post Office #2

Here was Shannon's birthday package in June:

And here's Riley's from the other day:
Really, Mom, how long ARE the lines at your local Post Office? Do they do this to all packages?

While You Were Out

While we were in Ohio, a friend needed to use our dryer. "No problem, you know how to break into our house (ancient Chinese secret,) go for it," we said. Then I got to thinking, in what state did I leave the house? Did I have time to clean? How bad could it be?

Uhh... bad. Walking into our stale home yesterday, my feet immediately stuck to the kitchen floor and our bags stuck to the kitchen table. The living room was littered with kid junk and Pokemon cards, and the entire house was coated in a fairly thick layer of dust. (Okay, it's always dusty, but still.) How freaking embarrassing! (Especially since this particular neighbor's home is always immaculate when she disappears for any length of time.) Argh!

I was too busy unpacking, grocery shopping, and mowing yesterday to tackle the mess(es,) so today I took some time to remedy that little situation. I scrubbed the kitchen floor, vacuumed the main level, and even cleaned the ceiling fan, (baby wipes are awesome for this, by the way.) I might just tackle some wall scrubbing before the day is over...

Ohio Vacation

We just got back from a great time in Ohio. We spent three days around Youngstown, swimming at the condo and at Uncle Chris' house every day. Shannon, (who doesn't have enough confidence to swim without floaties in deep water,) taught himself how to dive! Riley is close, but not quite there. I'm thrilled to report that both of the boys are getting stronger with their freestyle (when they try,) and float really well. Corey, well, he blows bubbles really well and loves to go down slides as long as someone is there to catch him.

Shannon illustrates a proper dive:

(Yea, Shannon, first time, and off a diving board, no less!)

Riley and Corey doing belly flops in good form:

Shannon going down the slide:

Riley was spoiled rotten (again,) for his birthday. We had pizza and birthday cake at Uncle Chris's house to celebrate. All went well until a thunderstorm rolled in...

Riley turns 8:

Joanne was happy to finally get some family pictures taken, too:

After I've been swimming??? Really, Joanne???

Friday we met Grammie and Papa up at their little cottage on Lake Erie. The water was rough, and after about 1/2 hour of watching Shannon get slammed by waves (fun when you're 5,) Mommy was done with that. Never fear, there was plenty of things for the kids to do around town. The boys drove bumper boats, rode down huge water slides, and played at the arcade a lot. There was a park right across the street from the cottage, and if the boys were still bored, they could always take Riley's new RC Car for a spin around the yard. Luckily Grammie had the energy to keep up with the boys (and Papa had enough energy to hang with Corey,) because Ken and I just wanted to take naps all the time.

Ken and I walked the strip one night and had a few beers. The beers were necessary because some of the local entertainment was a little too extreme, even for us. (Email me if you really want to know...) Yikes! Lucky for you, we forgot to get the camera out once we made it to the cottage, hence, no pictures.

Anyhow, we had thunderstorms both nights that we were up at the lake, so bedtime was a bit rough for the boys but somehow we survived. You would not have thought so, based on the way Riley and Corey were acting every time it thundered.

Today we hurried home so I could mow and get the grocery shopping done, and so that Ken could relax before going back to work. Corey was excited to be getting home to his computer, but then he blew it by misbehaving in the car. (Not Corey.) He's sure to overheat the computer in the morning when he's allowed to play on it again. Maybe he'll even let me use it once or twice, but until then...

Blame Papa

We had been at Ken's parent's house for less than two hours when my father-in-law beats me up with a rubber hose! I tell you...

Okay, we were shooting water balloons with Ken's 3-Man Balloon Launcher, and we tried for an extra long pull. Ken and I were in front holding the tension, and as Papa released the balloon, the rubber straps failed and smacked me (really hard) on the forearm.

Luckily (?) Grammie insisted that I smother some kind of cream on it, and it did make the two raised purplish welts subside a little bit. It will be interesting to see what my arm looks like in the morning.

In the meantime, I'm plotting my revenge. (Shannon plugging up the toilet soon after the aforementioned incident simply isn't revenge enough...)

August, the Longest Month

The grass is brown, the boys are constantly fighting, and I have not one ounce of patience left. It must be August.

Is it time for school to start yet?

We have been really busy lately and the kids aren't sleeping as much as they should be. It's only going to get worse as we're heading to Ohio on Tuesday and then up to Grammie's cabin on Lake Erie for the weekend. Fun, long days and tired, grumpy boys, I'm sure.

After that busy week, I'll have to start putting the kids back on their school schedule since the first day is slowly approaching, (September 2.) It's going to be a bit difficult, the sun's still up at 8:30 pm when I'll be trying to get the boys to sleep. And then there's the fact that I hate mornings, so I won't want to wake up at 7:00 am, which is when the boys have to get moving on a school day.

Other than that it's just a series of long, hot, dry and irritable days in Michigan.

What You Don't Want To Do...

What you don't want to do at 9:00 am after drinking beer with neighbors until 2:30 am the night before:

Assemble one of these. (It took 2 hours, ya'll.)

And if you do build a motorized marble ramp the morning after drinking beer on the porch until 2:30 am, you tend to end up with this:

A lot of extra pieces.

Riley actually got the assembly off to a decent start, but soon the pieces weren't connecting the way they should have. Come to find out, Riley hadn't realized the pieces were numbered and was just putting it together by sight. By the time I'd gotten his assembly figured out, he was bored. Surprise. So I pretty much built it myself.

It took two hours to complete once the box was open, and it entertained the boys for about two minutes. They've been fighting amongst themselves in the basement (with Anna) ever since.

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Shannon was going through popsicles last night about as fast as we went through beers, and I just had to get a picture of Shannon's face, do you see any resemblance (look at Shannon's mouth):

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And finally, here are some more pictures of Shannon and Corey playing last night: